Afro-Cuban dissident AntÃºnez quit a hunger strike he began February 17, according to the Miami Herald. AntÃºnez began the strike to protest both the Castro government’s refusal to his sister’s hurricane-damaged home, as well as the conditions under which his brother-in-law has been imprisoned.

AntÃºnez had refused solid food for nearly three months, losing more than 65 pounds during his hunger strike. His plan now is to do more confrontational protests of the Castro government. Godspeed, AntÃºnez.

Tonight, CBS will air a special episode of their police drama series Cold Case. The episode, titled “Stealing Home,” is about the murder of a baseball player who defected from Cuba. It airs at 9PM eastern, please watch it.

I’ve been told by a good friend that this episode will show the truth about Cuba, as opposed to the whitewashed tropical paradise the mainstream media would have you believe Cuba is under the Castros. That’s why it’s imperative for as many of us to watch it.

One of the stars of the show–Danny Pino–is a Cuban-American and I understand he helped write the script for tonight’s episode. I also understand Steven Bauer, another Cuban-American actor, will be on the show.

In case you’ve never seen it, Cold Case is about a fictional unit in the Philadelphia Police Department that, as the show’s name suggests, focuses on solving cold cases. The show is one of the few TV shows I watch and enjoy, and that’s before I knew Danny Pino’s background or that this episode would be shown at all.

This February 24th is the 13th anniversary of the tragic murders of Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre, Jr., Mario de la PeÃ±a and Pablo Morales by the Castro regime. The four men were shot down by Castro’s cowardly Mig pilots while flying a humanitarian mission in unarmed civilian Cessnas, over international waters.

If you are or will be in Miami February 24th and 25th, try to make it to one of the events listed in the press release below. The events were organized by the families of the victims.

SUBJECT: Events to commemorate the lives of Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre, Jr., Mario de la PeÃ±a and Pablo Morales, shot down over international waters by Cuban MiGs on February 24, 1996 while on a humanitarian search-and-rescue mission of Cuban rafters

February 24, 3:00 PM:Â Â Â Â Â
Florida International University
Fountain next to the Graham CenterÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
FIU students, faculty and the families of the February 24, 1996 victims observe 6 minutes of silence to mark the time elapsed between the shoot down of the first and second airplanes

Well, via the wonderful blog Bilingual in the Boonies, today I learned about a new blog from Cuba (yes, fron INSIDE Castro’s huge island Gulag) called “Potro Salvaje” (Wild Colt). Potro Salvaje says it’s a “blog about the thorny issue of the Internet in Cuba.” It calls itself a “virtual raft” and it’s motto is “we must liberate the tamed colt of technology,” a dig at Valdes’ comment.

Cool! I’ve added them to the blogroll and I’ll take a stab at translating some of their posts from time to time.

A Florida congresswoman asked the Justice Department yesterday to bring charges against resigning Cuban leader Fidel Castro for the deaths of four U.S. rescue workers who were killed while looking for Cuban migrants stranded at sea.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said earlier attempts to prosecute Castro in the 1996 downing of a humanitarian flight off the Cuban coast might not have been successful because of his role as head of state.

But now that Castro resigned, there is no longer the technicality of his status as “head of state” to contend with. Bravo to Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen for not waiting a day to press for justice for the victims of this act of murder!

The annual Cuban Memorial is on display beginning today at Miami’s Tamiami Park (the site is better known as the site of the County Fair). The memorial features 10,000 white crosses, each one symbolic of a life taken by Castro either through execution or by dying in the Florida Straits. The Cuban Memorial’s website has pictures and tons of info. The Miami Herald has an article.

The Cuban Memorial opened today with a press conference. It will remain in place through Sunday, with a number of events taking place onsite throughout the weekend. Visit if you can.

The Czech Republic will continue with its support to the Cuban opposition and observance of human rights across the world, Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg told representatives of Cuban opposition Hector Palacios and Gisela Delgado Friday.

Palacios said he hoped Cuba would become in one or two years a free country, to which the EU would contribute.

“The Czech Republic will insist in the future on its support to human rights in the whole world and in Cuba in particular. I hope that freedom and democracy will appear in Cuba through a concerted effort,” Schwarzenberg told journalists after meeting the Cuban dissidents.

It will, Mr. Schwarzenberg, thanks to help from great men like yourself.